Question for the guys that tournament fish with them, want to know your opinion on your live well system compared to other boats you've had? What do you like better about it? What do you dislike?
Thanks
Question for the guys that tournament fish with them, want to know your opinion on your live well system compared to other boats you've had? What do you like better about it? What do you dislike?
Thanks
Last edited by white gambler; 08-20-2018 at 06:37 PM.
Never lost a fish and I've fished in extremely hot weather. Never had to add any Rejuvenade or anything like that. Plenty of oxygen from recirc. Great system. The livewell has a rounded design so it doesn't damage the fish and it makes cleaning easy. The livewell is huge also. I like the large lid access. Easy drain out (and pump out for filling your livewell bag) and it drains out all the scales and throw up out with it. Has auto and manual recirc modes. It's fiberglass so it doesn't flex and all the water drains out completely. Operation is very simple. I keep the divider out because I fish either team or single man trails.
Allison XB21 2+2, Merc 250 ProXS, 1.62 Sportmaster, Hydromotive Engineering X-OB 29
Excel 1751 Viper F4, Tohatsu 50 4-stroke, EZ-Trac trailer
FeelFree Lure 11.5 Kayak
Thank you sir, appreciate the quick response. Hope to hear from more owners as well
I’ve not had any issues with mine as long as I have had largemouth in it. Smallmouth are a different story. A few years ago I had 2 or 3 tournaments in a row where I had 20 lbs+ of smallmouth in the hot water days of summer. The fish were stressed pretty bad from oxygen deprivation. I believe Allison’s have the best livewell Systems from the factory but still not good enough though keep fish from stressing in the 90 degree summer waters. That’s why I spent a small fortune and a lot of time inventing a real super oxygenation system for livewells. I just got patent pending status less than 2 weeks ago. But compared to other boats, the Allison livewell is as good as you can get. I just made them crazy good.
I also removed the divider and agree it's a great system.
I've had issues in HOT weather tournaments. However so did everyone else who caught fish early. Over the years I have learned a few tricks to help keep the fish in as good a condition as possible. The first is to NOT fish in hot weather LOL!! The older I get the more I like that trick. Frozen water bottles and G-Juice also help.
Johnny -- I'm all ears..
Now that I have the 4 year patent development ordeal over I can start the process of offering the best superoxygenating system made, but thankfully also educating people on what really happens in a livewell without proper oxygen and when we use air, not oxygen in trying to revive stressed fish. When I started this journey I had no idea how deep the livewell rabbit hole was. It is deep! I promise you that. My engineering background was really tested on this one. In about 18 months I should have a patent to give 100% protection barring no surprises. Till then I’ll start producing some systems pretty soon for my friends and for limited testing and testimonials. I’d love for you to do some testing for me. My prototype units put out 90-95% pure oxygen in a substantially large volume for a livewell and at a micro bubble size usable for fish. Not like those little, worthless, discs that do nothing for a good bag of fish. I’m rolling out the working prototype at the Fastbass Rally in Sept.Originally Posted by fishnfireman
Not trying to be a jerk..
Luckily I have lived the glory days of Falcon and Amistad.. Big fish will die a lot quicker especially if you have several. I fished several tournaments that a 25 Lb sack may not get a check.
When BASS set all the records at Falcon the number of huge fish that died was disastrous. Arron Martens even said on camera he caught his fish early and spent the rest of the day trying to keep them alive.
I believe every word of what Aaron Martin said too. I've been there and done that too. The straw that really broke the camel's back and got me to looking for a better way to keep fish alive was when I had about 23 pounds of smallies in the livewell in a tournament, early on, and there was about 6 hours left till weigh-in. They were in distress so bad me and my partner had to quit fishing, take a cooler and pour water in the livewell till weigh-in. That tournament had so many dead bass floating after all the fishermen left that it turned my stomach. Big, trophy bass too. Just this past Friday night I saw a trophy bass washed up on the rocks next to the ramp from the previous nights tournament. 5 to 6 pound fish and it was not alone. I wish in the summer people would go to a 3 fish limit. Of course I also wish they would get my system for their boats too. LOL.
I was a director for a West Texas - New Mexico Tournament organization -- We actually went to a 3 fish limit for a couple of years.. After we did there were several more who Fished Amistad that also went. Another thing about Amistad is a lot of fish are caught deep and most people won't or can't fiz them. So they get hauled around on there side until weighed.. A good O2 system will also help in that respect.
I think the Allison system works pretty well. The last champion boat I had there was a tube that sprayed water in the top and drove bubbles out the bottom I think this works better that just spraying water in to the surface. I think the frozen water bottles works ok if you don’t have really rough water. I have seen guys dump bags of ice into stressed fish I feel that’s a bad idea fish can’t take the shock of big temp changes even when there healthy and in good shape. Johnny I would like to know more about your system.
I fish on a small power plant lake on the coast of NC. The water temp coming out of the discharge was over 100 degrees. I caught a small limit early and culled every one of them most from the mouth of the discharge. Ended up with about 15 pounds. Lost three bass nothing I could do to save them, ice bottles ect. Would love to give your system a test Johnny. I fished a tournament in December a couple of years back when the fish were steaming when you pulled them from the water, air temp 30's water temp was close to 90 degrees.
Mike, (Current holder of the "Orange Crush" 2+2 XB21
I am very loyal to the people that are conservation minded. The same guys that read and study up on boats to get the best performance are the same kind of men who will study to be the best fishermen. That’s said to say that I want my system in the hands of people who see it as a conservation measure for future generations. Our fisheries are under a lot of pressure and we need to be the best stewards we can be so that our kids and grandkids can enjoy great fishing as well. Killing fish for a few tournament bucks is just wrong if we can do better. My system will supersaturate 90+ degree water with usable oxygen even with 30 lbs in the livewell. That’s about as good as it can get. Tom Rogers, an old friend who founded the NWTF once told me before he died that he waited as long as he could for somebody to step up to the plate and save the wild turkey. When nobody did he decided he would do it himself. That’s how I got into the livewell oxy business. I got tired of poorly designed air injection systems that didn’t work when I needed it the most.
10-4, congratulations on your patent pending that sounds exciting. I'd be interested in discussing with you at some point also.
Any one else with pros/cons vs other boats that you've owned?
The live wells is one of my favorite things about my bass sport. They drain faster and better than any boat I've ever had, they're super easy to keep clean, and I've not lost a fish yet. I leave my valve turned on auto pretty much all the time and once I catch the first fish I just flip the pump on auto and don't worry about it. I've only turned the recirculator on a few times when I gut hooked one and that's it. I do mostly fish at night though.
I have fished all over the South (Alabama, Georgia, FLORIDA, TN, Carolina's) currently fishing the Virginia circuit; never lost a fish in my XB 21. The heat is certainty a factor, when you have quality equipment "Dead Fish" is something you dont have to worry about just focus on getting them in the boat. I am intrested in the patent pending idea.
I haven't had any issues with our livewells. In the summer, I start with a bag of ice with a cap full of Please Release Me (Sure-Life). When I catch my 1st fish I fill up the livewell and keep it on recirc option and have the aerator on auto. About half day, I add another capfull and I'm good to go.
Mike I don’t know what the water temperature gets to in California in the summer, but here low 90’s are not uncommon. Mississippi State’s biology fishery department did a pretty extensive study and found that the fish mortality was nearly 80% within 3 days after fish were released after being in livewells above 85 degrees. It has been a couple years since I read the exhaustive study. It was an eye opener. We think because we release them alive all is well but their study doesn’t substantiate that in hot summer waters.
They also did a very extensive "delayed mortality" study on Amistad.. The numbers were not encouraging.
I read the Texas Game and Fish’s mortality study and it was very similar to MS State’s. Was an eye opener to be sure.
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